Off and Running at Atlantic City Race Course
Yazan: Dylan | 27 April 2012 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping
Today marks the start of the limited all turf meeting at Atlantic City Race Course, or as some call it “Aye Cee.” The meet is just six days long each year, but features full fields and solid racing over what used to be the greatest turf course in America. Below are some angles to consider [...]
The Transylvania – Keenland Spring Renewal
Yazan: Dylan | 05 April 2012 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Just like the Masters Tournament in golf, or MLB Opening Day, the sight of horses in the starting gate at Keenland is a sure sign of spring, quality racing, and big time stakes action soon to follow. The opening day feature is the $100k Transylvania Stakes, a one and one sixteenths mile turf race for [...]
Weekend Trifecta – Turf, Dirt and Synthetic Graded Stakes on the Docket
Yazan: Dylan | 24 March 2012 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
This weekend is filled with a diverse mix of graded stakes with two having potential Kentucky Derby implications. Time to find those checkmark winners! Gulfstream Park Race 10 – Grade II Pan American Stakes ($150K) – 1 ½ Miles (Turf) – 5:35 (EDT) Post Time Usually when thinking of turf racing at Gulfstream it’s about [...]
How Great is Kitten’s Joy? Palm Beach Stakes Preview
Yazan: Steve | 10 March 2012 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Gulfstream Park Race 7 – Grade III Palm Beach Stakes ($150K) – 1 and 1/8 miles – Post time 4:05 Though it has a small field of 6, half the entrants in Sunday’s Palm Beach Stakes are out of the exceptional turf sire Kitten’s Joy. The race may also hold the winner of Keeneland’s Blue [...]
Derby Winner Returns to Action
Yazan: Steve | 17 February 2012 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
The long awaited return of 2011 Kentucky Derby winner ANIMAL KINGDOM will be tomorrow (Saturday) in Race 5 at Gulfstream Park (2:25 post time). The race is an $80K Allowance Optional Claiming (for non winners of 3) at 1 and 1/16 miles on the turf. ANIMAL KINGDOM (4/5) will face 5 seemingly overmatched challengers on [...]
Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap Analysis
Yazan: Derek | 11 February 2012 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Originally posted at ThoroFan. Just four weeks ago, many of the horses entered in Saturday’s co-feature at Gulfstream Park contested the Ft. Lauderdale Stakes over this same course. While that was run over a firm course and under sunny skies, the forecast is quite the opposite for Saturday, with showers expected on both Friday and [...]
Opinions on Gulfstream Park’s Saturday Card
Yazan: Steve | 09 February 2012 | 4 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
The best racing card of the weekend arguably belongs to Gulfstream Park. It includes 4 graded stakes; the Grade III Swanee River, the Grade II Hutcheson (the only graded Derby prep his weekend), the Grade I Donn Handicap, and Grade I Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap. Here’s a few thoughts on the entries. Gulfstream Park Race 2 [...]
High on Grass – Ft. Lauderdale Edition
Yazan: Derek | 13 January 2012 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
Race 10 at Gulfstream on Saturday offers a sneak peak into the male turf division for 2012, with the running of the Ft. Lauderdale Stakes (G3). The weather forecast calls for sunny skies and temps in the 70s, so I’ve handicapped for firm turf. Post time is scheduled for 4:45 ET, so lets take a [...]
Making (and Playing) an Allowance at Hawthorne
Yazan: Paul | 19 November 2011 | Comments Off
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
After a week off for the Breeders’ Cup, Paul Mazur returns home to Hawthorne. Without a major stakes on the calendar in the month of November, we look for our plays in the allowance ranks in one of Saturday’s two features. Hawthorne – Race 5 – N2X/$35K-$25K Allowance Optional Claimer (AOC) (Turf) – Post time [...]
A Late-Season Turf Treat — Hawthorne’s Halloween Weekend
Yazan: Paul | 29 October 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
For most, Halloween weekend either means donning a costume, attending a party, or giving out to candy to those who come to the door. For handicappers, it’s a respite as most look forward to next week’s Breeders’ Cup. Paul Mazur (@heylaserbeam) looks at two overnight grass stakes for two-year-olds at Hawthorne this weekend, seeing if [...]
High on Grass – Jamaica, First Lady & Shadwell Turf Mile Edition
Yazan: Derek | 07 October 2011 | 3 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
With only four weeks until the Breeders Cup, this weekend offers the last round of significant prep races before the big day. In honor of his one-year anniversary writing for WirePlayers, Derek Brown returns to the races from his maiden post with a trio of Saturday’s G1 stakes from Belmont and Keeneland Belmont Race [...]
Super Saturday? You Bet!
Yazan: Derek | 02 October 2011 | 1 Comment
Categories: Horse Racing
The rain held off and Saturday was a tremendous day of racing at Belmont Park. Derek Brown (AKA NJDerek) gives his recap. Belmont’s Super Saturday is always one of my favorite days of racing. Several days of rain earlier in the week left the turf courses quite soft, forcing the early races to the main [...]
Weekend Stakes Racing Action
Yazan: Steve | 30 September 2011 | 3 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
This weekend is a Stakes Players’s dream with 18 graded stakes races headlined by Belmont Park’s “Super Saturday.” In addition to the Saturday’s Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup Belmont, this is opening weekend for Santa Anita’s fall meet (once traditionally held by the Oak Tree Racing Association). Perhaps the most interesting, and best betting races, [...]
A Saturday Salad of Stakes Quick Picks
Yazan: Derek | 23 September 2011 | 4 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
If fall stakes races were a gourmet meal, the Breeders Cup would be the lobster tail and filet mignon and next weekend would be a hearty appetizer of steamed mussels or crab-stuffed mushrooms. Thus, in keeping with the metaphor, Saturday afternoon offers a nice Caesar salad of stakes around the country. While they likely won’t [...]
High on Grass – Woodbine Weekend Turf Stakes Edition
Yazan: Derek | 16 September 2011 | 9 Comments
Categories: Handicapping, Horse Racing
This weekend’s best turf stakes take place north of the border at Woodbine Racetrack, headlined by Sunday’s G1 Woodbine Mile. Saturday offers a preview of the Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf races, and Sunday showcases the older turf division. In an odd twist, none of the stakes are part of any all-stakes multi-race wagers, but Derek [...]
